LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Prosecutors have dropped misdemeanor charges against four Occupy Little Rock members who were arrested in May for refusing to leave a downtown protest site.

The protesters were to have gone on trial Wednesday in Little Rock District Court but prosecutors told the judge they didn't want to pursue the case.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports (http://is.gd/6bWY2v ) that group members said they wanted to be tried so they could defend their free speech rights.

Jennifer Pierce, Amy Cicirello, Glen Miller and Greg Deckelman submitted to arrest last spring after occupying a site across from the downtown post office. The group first camped at the Clinton Presidential Center in October then moved near the post office after Little Rock police gave them a permit.